Ray Mickshaw, FOX Contestants show their stuff outside a Los Angeles casting call for the Fox series "So You Think You Can Dance." Click photo for larger image. Hollywood's Dance Card: Movies with that certain fever Previous Story: Dancers audition for a shot at TV glory

What we term social dancing grew up, bigger than life, on the silver screen. It was best personified in the feathery sweep of longtime partners Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. We escaped with them into glittering ballrooms and nightclubs or lavish moonlit settings.

And we wished we could do that.

But the truth of the matter was, crossover dance hits were few and far between. So it comes as somewhat of a surprise that two documentaries, "Mad Hot Ballroom" and "Rize," have made a splash this summer. And television, which has seen even fewer popular dance forays that connected with viewers -- Arthur Murray, Fred Astaire and Mikhail Baryshnikov come to mind and not much else -- has already had a hit in "Dancing With the Stars" and has a much-hyped program, "So You Think You Can Dance," from the producers of "American Idol," set to unfold at 8 tonight with a two-hour series premiere on Fox.

A long way from ballet, where dancers work hard to hide the work that goes into a performance, these projects let it all out -- the pain, anger, frustration and euphoria that dance can bring.

"Mad Hot Ballroom" started it all in May. The tale of at-risk New York City elementary students, it equated dance with self-esteem. Viewers followed three schools, just a microscopic look at the 6,000 students citywide, as they took a 10-week course in ballroom (merengue, rumba, fox trot, tango, swing), culminating in the championship. Filled with numerous lip-biting close-ups, it took good advantage of enormously photogenic children and the adults who coached them.

"Rize" came next, Dave LaChapelle's tale of Los Angeles-based teens-at-risk as they invent a new style of dance called "clowning," with appropriate face paint, or its offshoot rival (sans makeup), "krumping." An alternative to the violent street gangs, it is based on support groups, mostly church-related. This film, too, culminated in a local arena where the clowns and the krumps engaged in a dance contest, this time decided by the audience.

While the kids built their egos, the "Stars" turned the tables by pairing experienced ballroom professionals with actors and athletes. The audience was able to see the improvement, but bathed in an aura of self-deprecating humor (especially from John O'Hurley of "Seinfeld" fame). Studio footage, with the attendant trips and falls, added some spice to this championship.

Riding the crest of this wave of dance popularity is "So You Think You Can Dance," which looks to be a summation of it all. This showcase has 16 dancers, culled from the 2,000 who auditioned, who are "skilled in everything from ballroom and ballet to salsa, jive, hip-hop and krumping." Like "Stars," it is a British import, created by "American Idol's" Nigel Lythgoe and Simon Fuller.

Lythgoe is a former choreographer, so this is a project close to his heart. Unlike his "American Idol," all of the prospective talent for the show has experience. Fifty, including Slippery Rock University student Andrea Sivelli, were invited to Hollywood, where they worked with five different choreographers.

The choreographers whittled the dancers down to a group of 24. Then the production staff chose eight men and eight women. For the first program, the men picked a female partner's name out of a hat; the women chose the dance that they would learn.

"We're not being crazy; we're not saying that you have to learn tap dancing in two days," says Lythgoe. "But any dance that revolves around movement, we will attempt to do it."

The dancers also will perform solo in front of a judging panel who will make the selections each week until the finale, where the viewing audience will vote for the champion.

"We're not ... turning them into stars like 'American Idol,' " reveals Lythgoe. "It's a great springboard into a dancing career, but they're not going to be the next Kelly Clarkson or the next Carrie Underwood." The program will give the champion $100,000 and an apartment in New York City for a year.

And it's not over. There's more movement looming on the horizon, where two more British imports are waiting in the wings -- "Ice Dancing With the Stars" and a variation of "Strictly African Dancing."

Looking down on this, Arthur Murray must be dancing on a cloud.